Photographic image as a communicative resource in contemporary Russian drama

Abstract

The article analyses photographic discourse in contemporary Russian dramatic texts as a specific way of perceiving and constructing the reality, as a means of communication, and as a metalanguage. The conceptualization of photographic images in the dramatic text enabled the scrutiny of specific artistic ploys and photographic techniques applied. The article reveals the nature of correlation between the visual perception of a photograph incorporated in the dramatic text, the characters’ utterances and the author’s remarks. The photographic image fosters the rejection or the “appropriation” (recognition in oneself) of the Other by the characters. It also allows for the implementation of the communicative mechanisms used to create the hyperreality of the photo universum. The performative potential of the photographic discourse of the dramatic text materializes itself in such a hyperreality.